The first Capture the Flag
by ATrueHufflepuff13
Summary: 7 year old Annabeth has been at camp for a week and is about to participate in her first game of capture the flag. She hopes she will be able to outwit the opposite team, but fighting against Ares and Apollo is no laughing matter. Will they be able to capture the flag? It isn't as easy as it looks.


Capture the Flag. Hmm, an odd way to prove yourself, but Annabeth was pretty sure she could handle it. She'd only been at camp a week, but she loved it already. She was in the Hermes cabin with Luke for now, but she hoped that she wouldn't be there for long. Maybe she would get claimed, like Luke had been claimed three days ago.

It was Hermes, Demeter, and Athena against everyone else. Annabeth thought that was a bit of a disadvantage for them, but apparently those were the normal teams. Janie Crystal, the Hermes counselor, gathered them all together.

"Ok you guys," she said, her voice determined, "We're really going to win it this time. You got that? No crazy moves, unless they're crazy enough to actually work."

Everyone laughed. Janie was good that way, she made everyone laugh when they were nervous.

"And now," she said, and her eyes narrowed. "Line up," she commanded. Everyone lined up without hesitation. She began walking along the line, her eyes scanning each camper carefully.

"She's looking for a scout," the Athena boy next to her whispered, "That's her best strategy so far."

"What's a scout?" Annabeth whispered back. What was that boy's name? Oh yea, Cadmus.

"That's just someone who sneaks around our territory with a horn and acts as an alarm system."

"Well that seems a bit risky." Annabeth said.

Cadmus grinned. "Of course, but the whole game's risky. We wouldn't stand a chance if we didn't take chances," He grinned, like he'd just said something funny.

"Was I supposed to laugh?"

Cadmus sighed and frowned. "It's never funny the second time. Curse that Janie."

Suddenly she stopped. Cadmus cringed. "You didn't hear that, did you?"

Janie smiled. "I am honored," she said, but she wasn't looking at Cadmus, she was looking at Annabeth.

"You there, you're name's Annabeth, right?"

Annabeth felt a little offended that Janie didn't take the time to know her name, but decided to let it pass, since Janie had eighteen other campers to keep up with. "Yea, my name's Annabeth."

Janie's eyes swept Annabeth's small form, and she suddenly felt self-conscious. Then Janie handed her the horn.

"Here Annabeth, your job is to sneak through our territory and blow the horn at any sign of an enemy. We need someone good at stealth who's small and quick. Think you can handle it?"

Annabeth beamed. "Sure," she said, then added "How do I know who's on our side and who's not?"

Janie frowned, considering the question. "Well, you've met most of the other campers, so you'll have an idea, but if you see anyone suspicious, just remember that most people on their team are either super ugly or super beautiful."

Annabeth nodded.

Janie took a step back, then nodded at the Athena counselor.

"Tom, assign defense, then meet me at the creek and we'll discuss our battle plan." Janie ran off with several other people from Hermes. They had apparently done this before.

Tom looked at everyone, then seemed to notice Annabeth. "Get out there and start scouting," he said.

Annabeth backed up, then turned around and started jogging around the premises. She sort of knew the area, but she wanted to be sure of the boundaries.

It was a full thirty minutes into the game and Annabeth hadn't done anything exciting. She just watched while squads of different teams attempted to break through each other's defense. Suddenly she heard voices.

"-while I keep them away. Did you make sure Col made it back? I heard that kid Leroy yelling." Annabeth froze. It was the voice of Cilla, one of the Apollo kids. Col was a kid from Ares. A squad from the other team had made it into their territory! Annabeth raised the horn and blew.

Cilla whirled around. "BLAST that Janie, I hate it when she sends scouts," Cilla cursed. She charged toward the flag. Annabeth was about to run after them, but Jacob, the boy from Hephastus, charged her. She managed to wriggle out of his reach, but the horn she had in her hands fell and cracked on a rock. Well, so much for scouting.

She sprinted toward the creek, her eyes searching for an Ares or an Aphrodite camper. Cilla had said Leroy had been yelling, and Annabeth knew he was in charge of guarding the creek. Suddenly, Annabeth realized she was the only one at the creek. She peered into the wood and saw she had a straight path to their flag. She wasn't needed as a scout anymore, the main attack had been stopped and her horn had broken, so she couldn't do much.

With a quick glance behind her, Annabeth leapt over the boundaries and ran toward the flag. If she'd been getting her information from the right sources, the flag was in the tree right beside the - oof-"

An Ares kid had leapt out from nowhere and tackled her. "Shoot," Annabeth muttered, as Col swung her over his shoulders backwards. He started off toward his team's jail.

Annabeth had no way to overpower this guy, he was way stronger than even Luke, and she was only seven. What she needed was a diversion, a way to make him drop her and give her time to run. If she could get enough distance between them, she might be able to run, or at least hide. If she could just reach her knife…

Annabeth finally managed to pull her bronze knife out of her belt. It was hard hanging upside down, but she managed it. With one deft stroke, she cut her captor's belt.

"What in the-" Col swung around, dropped Annabeth, and grabbed his pants with one hand. Jackpot. Annabeth would've gotten away if Col hadn't figured out her plan a split second before he should've. He picked her up by an arm and a leg, and after transferring her leg to his right hand, grabbed his pants as well. Gods this guy was fast. It was like he was trained to fight scouts! Well, he probably was, come to think of it.

As soon as they got to the opposite team's jail, Col threw Annabeth onto the dirt beside a tree and went to go find a rope of some sort. Mendle, the Aphrodite kid in charge of guarding jail, tied Annabeth to a tree beside some other guy from Athena's cabin. She did a horrible job. She just wrapped the rope around the tree several times, tied a knot, and left Annabeth and the other kid with their backs to the tree. If one of them managed to escape, the whole rope would go slack, and the other would get away too.

Annabeth thought desperately. If she could just come up with some sort of plan, she might be able to get the flag. She could see it from here, it was way off near Zeus's fist and only guarded with one person. She turned toward the boy beside her.

"Listen," she whispered, "If we can-"

"Uh uh," Mendle snapped, pushing a dagger under Annabeth's chin, "No talking." She went back to cleaning dirt from under her fingernails.

Shoot. If she could just find some way of communicating with this boy she might be able to escape. As it was, she couldn't even see him properly when she turned her head. She might be able to feel him though. Scraping her sleeve against the tree, she touched the palm of his hand. He was an Athena kid, he might know Morse code.

She tapped into his palm. Brush, tap, tap, brush, brush, brush, brush, tap, brush, brush, *Do you know Morse code?* she asked in Morse code.

The Athena kid made no response, so at first she thought she was lost, but then she felt him return on her own palm.

*Yes, I'm Leroy, who are you?*

*Annabeth, from Hermes cabin. I have a plan to get us out of these ropes.*

*Cool, I do too, only my plan's for getting the flag once we're out.*

They were able to explain their plans to one another without alerting the Aphrodite girl, which was nice.

Wow, that kid Leroy had the craziest plan she'd ever heard, but it might work. Wow, double decoy. No, triple decoy. Whatever, she couldn't keep up with it, but she knew the plan. Slowly, Leroy sat up straighter, forcing the ropes down to his abdomen. Annabeth felt the ropes go just the teeniest bit slacker, and slowly squeezed herself down. Nearly there, only a few more inches. Finally, she got her shoulders through the last bit of rope and her neck was the only thing left. Leroy held the now very slack ropes up and she pulled her head through too.

Annabeth stood up and slowly made her way in the opposite direction of the flag. When she was about fifteen feet away from the tree, she purposely stepped on a twig. Mendle snapped her head around, then astonished, realized she'd managed to escape. With a quick glance at Leroy, who seemed to be struggling at his ropes in vain, she took off after Annabeth. Realizing she'd escaped, the three people guarding the flag ran after her too. Leroy's plan was working.

As she streaked through the forest, Annabeth suddenly stopped. She scampered up a tree and hung there, very quietly, as she waited for the others to catch up.

"Where'd she go?" Mendle asked the guards stupidly.

"Oh shoot, we left the flag unguarded." The four campers turned and ran back. Ok, maybe the plan was not going as expected. Annabeth slid down the tree and sprinted to her next location. Oh she hoped this would work.

She crouched down in the underbrush beside the tallest oak tree, trying to blend in.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA" Leroy's yelling carried through the forest as a band of campers chased him through the forest. Annabeth smiled. She knew that no one would be stupid enough to yell while being chased, unless it was part of a plan.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Leroy neared her hiding place, clutching the flag to his chest, and she scrambled backwards. He caught her movement and tossed the purple flag onto the ground beside her. Quickly she covered it with leaves and lay still, and not a moment too soon.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA " Leroy continued, still running. His arms were now clutching air, but the six campers chasing him didn't seem to notice that. Just when they were far enough away, Annabeth grabbed the flag and took off toward the boundaries.

Her feet pummeled the ground and her breathing was short. She was exhausted. Just as the boundaries came in sight, she lost all hope. There, blocking her path, was Col.

He turned around, snarling at her.

"So the little jailbird escaped the beauty queen?" he growled. "Well guess what, you're not escaping me."

He'd gotten his rope, and now he was very much free of handicap. Annabeth crouched, breathing hard.

"Help," she whimpered, trying to catch her breath. She was so close to the borders, but no one was in sight. Suddenly a faint flash of green caught her eye. Hope flared through her body.

Col dove toward her, aiming for her legs. She jumped, trying to avoid him, but she crashed against the ground. Her knife was back with Mendle, she didn't have anything but the flag to help her now. The flag and the eight year old Demeter girl that was hiding behind a recently grown bush.

Annabeth shouted "NOW!" she threw the flag as far as she could. Too late, Col realized what she had done, and Katie Gardner scooped up the flag. Reaching with one hand, he grabbed her ankle, but as she tripped, the arm holding the flag landed on the opposite side of the barrier. It shimmered, then turned green.

A squad of kids from different cabins burst through the wood on the winning side. They saw the flag, cheered, and ran to free the two struggling girls. Leroy, the now proud owner of a bloody lip, came dashing into the scene, flanked by cursing Ares kids. They punched him again when they saw the other team had won, but he didn't care. He was rewarded with cheers and catcalls that night when he told the other Athena campers how he'd helped win.

Best of all, Annabeth was claimed that night. As they sat around the campfire, conversing about the game, a shining owl appeared above her head.

"I knew you had to be my little sis!" Leroy cheered.

She fell asleep on the top bunk in the Athena cabin that night. She had everything she could want here. Games, friends, family, Luke, what else could anyone want?

"Thaila," she thought, "And Dad." She sighed and rolled over. Nothing could be perfect, but she wasn't going to think about that now.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** This is my first Percy Jackson and the Olympians fanfic, so I hope you guys like it. If you want to know why I made up new characters, remember Annabeth has the most years when Percy gets there. Well, except for a few other 'senior' campers. Janie, Jacob, Col, and Cilla will be part of a demigod rescue squad that goes out and helps bring half bloods back to camp, so they leave soon after. I am probably not going to publish my fanfic on them, since it has no plot, but I just thought I should mention it. Leroy, sadly, died in 1999. Only the _extreme_ Titan's Curse fans will get that reference.

Review! Tell me what you think! Help me improve my writing! Type something random! Please?

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